Israeli Peace Activist

Israeli Peace Activist

Gila Svirsky was born in 1946 in New Jersey. She received a degree in philosophy from Brandeis University and an M.A. from Hebrew University. Ms. Svirsky is the winner of the following awards: the Solidarity Prize of Bremen, together with Sumaya Farhat-Naser, in 2003; the Hermann-Kesten-Medal, together with Sumaya Farhat-Naser, awarded by the P.E.N. Association of Writers in Germany in 2002; in 2004, she was honored by the New Israel Fund for her "contribution to strengthening Israeli democracy".

Gila Svirsky is an Israeli writer and peace activist who co-founded the Coalition of Women for Peace, which brings together nine Israeli women's peace organizations to raise the visibility and volume of the feminist peace movement in Israel. Ms. Svirsky has been an activist with Women in Black, a women’s anti-war movement, since its inception in 1988 and is currently chair of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories. Here, she discusses current events in the Middle East, giving special attention to the grassroots feminist peace movement in Israel and Palestine.